We need new roads, but not new revenues

It appears transportation is on the agenda once more for the General Assembly, thanks to Governor Kaine. The Governor should be praised for insisting transportation funding be set on an even keel for the future. He should not be praised for insisting it would require new revenues, because it won't.

The evidence that Virginia’s transportation priorities can be handled without new taxes comes from an unusual source: none other than Tim Kaine himself, via the budget data that can be accessed here. Whether this link will still work once you finish reading this post is another story.

With the aforementioned series of tables, I put together a mini-analysis of the state budget since FYs 01/02 (passed in 2000, and the only all-GOP budget in Virginia history), with a few points I found of great interest.

1) During Mark Warner's first budget (FYs 03/04), in which he claimed he was making deep and painful cuts, state spending rose 9.7% (over $4.5 billion - with a "b").

2) In the budget passed during the 2004 tax hike fiasco (FYs 05/06), state spending increased over $9.8 billion, or over 19%. Had the tax increase not been passed, state spending could still have risen by $8.4 billion (16.4%) and the budget still would have balanced.

3) In the most recently passed budget (FYs 07/08) - the one where everyone except the House Republicans said new taxes were absolutely necessary - state spending is projected to rise another $9.4 billion (18.3%), at least. With the extra billion dollar surplus, the state spending hike will break the $10 billion mark.

4) Under the two Democratic governors and their enablers, state spending is now over 50% higher today than it was during the end of the Gilmore Administration (a $23.8 - $24.8 billion increase).

5) Of that new spending, over $20.5 billion (86%) did not go to Transportation.

Now, the amount of transportation funding needed to substantially improve Virginia road and rail systems over the next two decades is a matter of heated debate, but even the most eye-popping number in the bunch (roughly $105B) could be handled if this state were actually serious about holding the line on spending – and saying you’re “cutting” spending as it’s rising by nearly 10% doesn’t count.

As for the Governor himself, I have one simple question: where did the $20 billion go?